Drew Barrymore and Corey Feldman took a trip together down memory lane. Upon their reunion on Jan. 18 on The Drew Barrymore Show, the former couple gushed about growing up together and sharing their memories. In her introduction, Barrymore, 47, revealed that the two had not seen each other in person in 25 years. Feldman, 51, recalled how the two met when he was 12 or 13 and Drew was 10 or 11, saying Steven Spielberg introduced them. As Barrymore’s godfather, the legendary filmmaker also directed her breakout film, E.T., in 1982 and wrote the story for and produced Feldman’s film, The Goonies.
“What happened was, I got a call one day. My grandmother says, “We got a call from Steven [Spielberg]’s office, and the little girl from E.T. wants to meet you because she’s got a crush on you,” Feldman recounted.
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“Oh yeah, I did, the biggest,” Barrymore replied. “But everyone did!”
After that, her mother, Jaid Barrymore, arranged a “play date.” “It was so cute. I remember taking you to the movies, I remember exactly which movie theater it was,’” Feldman continued. “Of course, neither of us drove because I was still living at my grandparents’, and you were living with your mom,” he added, and Barrymore said the pair was still “years away from getting our licenses.”
Feldman recalls it as an enjoyable outing between two fast friends, and Barrymore was more memorable than the film they watched. “We walked across the street, and you put your little hand up for me to hold. And I held your hand, and we walked across the street. I don’t remember what movie we saw, but I remember all that,’ Feldman said. After a few years of being only friends, Feldman and Barrymore briefly “dated properly” when Feldman was 17 and Barrymore was 14. She recalled the Lost Boys actor inviting her to attend the Academy Awards.
“I remember you were going, and so, I was lucky enough to be your date,” she said. She wasn’t expecting the attendees to be dressed in high fashion, which was a bit of a shock. “I just threw on a cotton Betsey Johnson dress off the rack. I don’t know how much it cost, probably $65,” she recalled. “I remember getting there, and I remember seeing people in such designer duds. And I remember looking around and thinking, ‘Oh, I’m very underdressed. I’m wearing a cotton Betsey Johnson dress. Whoops!’ And you looked so cool.”
“I just thought we were having so much fun,” she continued.
“We were such the great little, cute little item for the three months where we lasted,” Feldman remarked. Barrymore also discussed what initially attracted her to Feldman.
“I loved the idea of you, and I loved you as an actor and the human. But getting to know you, that’s what I was always drawn to was your lack of ego,” she shared. “We were around many nice people and many people who fell prey to self-indulgence and you didn’t.” Amid her famously troubled childhood and adolescence, Barrymore found safety wherever Feldman was.
“We were so positive. You and I were such good friends,” she said. “We had that kind of relationship where they say, ‘Date your friend.’ We were the embodiment of that. You were so kind, you were such a safe place for me.”
Despite this, Feldman was not afraid to mention their substance abuse struggles before they got sober, and they touched briefly on more difficult times. “We got sober together, we got un-sober together…” he said early on, adding later that Barrymore was already getting her life together even while he still endured his own troubles. “You got sober first. You got your act together first. It took me a few years after you,” Feldman said.
